35 Greatest StarWars Tributes of All Time

The riff on Death Star contractors in Kevin Smith's Clerks is one of pop culture's finest Star Wars references.

30 Rock — Leia Lemon

Tina Fey clearly loves Star Wars – she even mentions it in her book Bossypants – but the ways in which that love translates to her performance on the screen as Liz Lemon on 30 Rock are priceless. Like, for example, the time she dressed up as Princess Leia to avoid jury duty. (Leia) Lemon, out.

Star Wars Day at AT&T Park

The San Francisco Giants cranked their jock-nerd cred to 10 in 2011 with their Star Wars Day at AT&T Park. While theme days at ballparks may not qualify as a typical pop-culture references, how many other teams would encase their closing pitcher in carbonite? And the mashup fan costumes (above) were a grand slam.

Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired

Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me — 'Death Star'

It's hard to tell what's funnier about this moment from Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me: The moment when Dr. Evil (Mike Myers) calls the moon a Death Star or when his son Scott (Seth Green) retorts with, "Oh nothing, Darth."

Spaceballs

It's impossible to identify the best Star Wars gag in Spaceballs, because the entire movie is one. But if we had to pick a favorite line, we'd go with, "I see your Schwartz is as big as mine," courtesy of Dark Helmet (Rick Moranis).

Arrested Development Does Star Wars Kid

It's the jokes within jokes that work on Arrested Development. For this one, George Michael (Michael Cera) finds himself in an embarrassing situation after videotaping himself practicing lightsaber moves in his garage. Just like that other guy.

Chasing Amy Riffs on Race and Star Wars

Much like the brilliant diatribe he wrote for videostore clerk Randal in Clerks, Kevin Smith wrote another fantastic Star Wars riff for comic-book creator Hooper X in Chasing Amy – this time on race relations in a galaxy far, far away. And, like its predecessors, it's as funny as it is insightful.

DJ Shadow – 'Hindsight'

It may be a small sample, but more than one fan noticed when DJ Shadow dropped "the tracks go off in this direction" from A New Hope in his jam "Hindsight." (Bonus points: nice wordplay.)

Death Star PR

Laugh It Up, Fuzzball: The Family Guy Trilogy

While many TV shows have gotten mileage out of Jedi jokes and Slave Leia costumes, few have put in the multi-arc effort that Family Guy did with Laugh It Up, Fuzzball: The Family Guy Trilogy, which parodied Star Wars: Episodes IV-VI over three separate shows and was followed by direct-to-video sequels. Well played, Seth MacFarlane.

Fanboys

Fanboys didn't really parody or reference Star Wars so much as it took everything wonderful about fandom and turned it into a sweet narrative about friendship. Awww, you guys.

Friends' 'The One With the Princess Leia Fantasy' Episode

Fondness for Slave Leia seems to be a nerd fantasy that will last forever. But how many Star Wars geeks can say their Slave Leia fantasy was acted out by Jennifer Aniston? Only Friends' Ross (played by David Schwimmer), in the appropriately titled episode, "The One With the Princess Leia Fantasy."

Futurama: Bender's Big Score

Direct-to-video film Futurama: Bender's Big Score is full of Star Wars sight gags, but the bling-y looking Death Stars might just take the Dark Side cake.

'George Lucas Strikes Back'

The "trailer" for nonexistent film George Lucas Strikes Back pretty much says it all: What if the Star Wars prequels were the work of an impostor? The real Lucas would get revenge, that's what. Sweet, sweet revenge. "When I heard about midi-chlorians, only one thought kept me going: Find the man who made the prequels and destroy him," the fake Lucas swears. Violence, hilarity and Dark Side coke binges ensue.

Glee's Holiday Special

Glee usually focuses on geek-outs of the show choir variety, but for the series' 2011 holiday extravaganza, the musical youths of William McKinley High School mashed up the hated The Star Wars Holiday Special and the Judy Garland Christmas Show. None of the show's regulars actually dressed up like a Star Wars character — that would've been copyright infringement (LOL!) — although Chewbacca makes a cameo.

Gnarls Barkley –
'Crazy' Performance at the 2006 MTV Movie Awards

Gnarls Barkley has always been out of this world, but the pair took it to a whole other level when they performed "Crazy" at the 2006 MTV Movie Awards with their band dressed as Imperial officers, Stormtroopers and Rebel Alliance pilots. They topped off the performance by putting Cee-Lo in a Darth Vader outfit.

Hardware Wars

Hardware Wars was perhaps the first Star Wars parody ever made. It came out only a few months after the original movie and became an instant classic. Watch.

Hello Kitty's Furry Tale Theater - Cat Wars

On the list of improbable Star Wars homages, this one from cartoon Hello Kitty's Furry Tale Theater is probably near the top. While it wins points for uniqueness, it didn't please every fan: Topless Robot called it a "scat-covered skullfucking of not just Star Wars, but of everything that is good and holy."

R2-D2's Message From Hologram Tupac

Even before Hologram Tupac (as he's become known) made his debut at Coachella in 2012, people were saying his appearance would have the feeling of a message sent via droid from across the galaxy. This video just went a step further and did the work of putting it all together.

Improv Everywhere — Star Wars Subway Car

A bunch of Stormtroopers walk into a subway car.... The punchline is that they are a bunch of jokesters from Improv Everywhere staging a Star Wars gag on New York City's underground.

Beastie Boys – 'Do It'

MCs from Notorious B.I.G. to Eminem have rapped about Vader, Yoda, Obi-Wan Kenobi and the gang, but Ad-Rock's proclamation in "Do It" – "Like gravy on potatoes, Luke to Darth Vader / I'm a souped-up sucker and I'll see you all later" – is just boss.

'Jedi Kittens'

What do you get when you mash together two of the internet's favorite memes? Jedi Kittens. Fighting with lightsabers. The end.

The Lego Star Wars Barrel Organ

Making a barrel organ out of 20,000 Lego bricks that plays the Star Wars theme isn't so much a pop-culture reference as it is a combination of two beloved nerd properties coming together and making a magical baby. We'll take it.

Robot Chicken: Star Wars Episode III

The Robot Chicken: "Star Wars Episode III" three-part sendup of George Lucas' film series won over a lot of fans, including one very important one. “Everything gets run through Lucasfilm for these specials,” executive producer Matt Senreich told Wired at the time of the final episode's airing. “He was laughing throughout, so that’s a good sign. He seems happy with the way everything turned out.”

Shit Stormtroopers Say

The "Shit _____ Say" meme was all but played out when this video came along, but thank the Force it did. The "have you seen these droids?" jokes are priceless.

Simon Pegg and Nick Frost's Star Wars

Two nerds. Some costumes. A camera. If it weren't obviously Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, this video could be just about any of us, really.

South Park's 'Free Hat' Episode

For all the trouble the boys of South Park have gotten into over the years, they've done some good. And their "Save Films From Their Directors" initiative in the episode "Free Hat" might've been their most noble endeavor.

'The Star Wars Zone'

The Vader Project

The Venture Bros. — Dean as Slave Leia

Animated show The Venture Bros. has worked more than a few Empire-riffic references into the mix, but seeing Dean in Slave Leia drag was a sight gag to behold.

Volkswagen's 'The Force' Super Bowl Ad

Volkswagen's charming Super Bowl commercial featuring a kid dressed as the Dark Lord of the Sith went viral in a big way in 2011. Advertising slots in the big game cost millions, but the 'lil Vader spot was worth every penny.

Thirty-five years ago today, George Lucas changed the world forever with his scrappy sci-fi movie about space rebels battling an evil galactic empire. Since then, Star Wars references have become the lingua franca of pop culture.

From TV to movies to music to the virtual water coolers where we gather these days, Lucas’ legacy shines through. Artists and fans can name-check Boba Fett, wear Princess Leia braids, speak in a C-3PO voice or reference the Death Star, and everyone will instantly get the joke. Because everyone knows the saga of Star Wars.

“It’s pop culture currency, man,” said director Kevin Smith, who has referenced the six Star Wars films in nearly every movie he’s ever made. “It’s something that we all kind of share — the dollar we all agreed on a long, long time ago. Even our parents knew it, because we made them take us to see it over and over again.”

Smith, who penned a great riff on Death Star contractors for his debut film Clerks and titled one of his stoner comedies Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, isn’t even the most prolific Star Wars joke-teller. Almost the entirety of Mel Brooks’ sci-fi spoof Spaceballs flows from premises introduced in Lucas’ movies, and TV shows from Family Guy to Friends have devoted air time to episodes based on the theme. Even the theater nerds on Glee riffed on remixing The Star Wars Holiday Special.

The saga has also found its way into songs — either through samples from the movies’ soundtracks or in nods to the plethora of colorful characters in the Star Wars universe.

In honor of the many wonderful ways fans have embraced Lucas’ films in the years since we first went to a galaxy far, far away, we’ve collected our 35 favorite Star Wars pop-culture moments. Feel free to add yours in the comments below.

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